Department for Transport

Driving: Licensing

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidelines his Department has on the maximum travel time for people who need to undergo a medical driving assessment to a centre where they can undergo that assessment; and if he will estimate the proportion of such people in Scotland who live outside that maximum travel time.

Andrew Jones: The Department for Transport does not issue guidelines on the maximum travel time a person would be expected to spend travelling to a driving assessment.Depending on the medical condition being investigated, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) will either utilise an assessment performed by the applicant’s nearest Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency test centre or a disability assessment centre. The disability assessment centres are independent and provide a service to the DVLA. While the DVLA sets the standards required for the assessments, it is unable to influence the location of the centres.

Dartford-Thurrock Crossing: Tolls

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will introduce localised painted symbols on the highway to make motorists aware of the Dart Charge payment scheme.

Andrew Jones: Road charging symbols were introduced on the 5th November 2015 on each of the lanes both northbound and southbound at the Dartford-Thurrock Crossing. Work continues to paint road charging symbols on both carriageways of the A282 and this is due to be completed, subject to weather conditions, on 13 December 2015.

Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency

Holly Lynch: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the (a) implications for his policies and (b) reasons for the finding of the Civil Service People Survey 2015 that Driver and Vehicle Standard Agency staff rated leadership and management the lowest in the civil service.

Andrew Jones: The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) acknowledges that its 2015 Civil Service People Survey results are disappointing, and it is determined to improve its leadership and management of change. This is no easy task for an organisation of 4,500 people working across more than 500 sites. It has begun implementing actions to improve staff engagement, including creating forums for specific groups of staff to contribute to change, and Directorate and team meetings focussing specifically on staff engagement. It is also sending out its corporate senior leaders to talk to, and more importantly, to listen to its public-facing operational staff.

Railways: North of England

Holly Lynch: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Calder Valley Line will be used as a diversion during the electrification of the Manchester to Leeds via Stalybridge line; and what assessment he has made of the merits of those diverted trains calling at Sowerby Bridge.

Andrew Jones: As announced on 30 September, Network Rail are working with the Department and Rail North to develop a new plan for electrification of the TransPennine line to focus on delivering key passenger benefits as quickly as possible. In his letter to the Secretary of State, Sir Peter Hendy, the chairman of Network Rail, stated that the planning of this work will be concluded by the end of 2017. The intention is to use the Calder Valley Line as a diversion during the works on the North Transpennine Line via Stalybridge. The details of the calling patterns of the diverted trainsare not yet determined, as the works need to be planned first. The Department and Rail North will work with the new train operators over the next few years to plan the calling patterns. The new train operators will take over from April 2016.

Calder Valley Railway Line

Holly Lynch: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2015 to Question 11117, when speed and capacity improvements will be started between Hebden Bridge and Bradford.

Andrew Jones: Network Rail are currently preparingadraftupdate tothe Enhancements Delivery Planfor publicationin due course. This will provide details of individual projects. Following publication,my Department will hold a short period of stakeholder consultation.The works on the Calder Valley, which include the route between Hebden Bridge and Bradford, are currently being planned. The intention is to complete the works in phases, starting at the Western end and finishing in time to provide a diversionary route such that the Transpennine Route Upgrade can be completed by 2022.

Department for Transport: Research

Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much of his Department's funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Spending Review 2015 set out settlements for departments and showed how the government will deliver on its priorities, eliminate the deficit, and deliver security and opportunity for working people.Final decisions on internal departmental funding allocations for future years, including for research and development, have not yet been made.

Aviation: Lasers

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance his Department has issued to the aviation industry on ensuring the safety of pilots by their avoiding the illegal use of lasers from the ground.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has published a Safety Notice which provides guidance on laser attacks, including the action that aircraft crew and controllers should take during and immediately after a laser attack. It also includes a self-assessment tool to help those exposed to lasers to make an immediate assessment of their vision and determine whether or not they need to consult an eye specialist.The CAA is also co-ordinating an industry-wide initiative to decide what further measures might be needed to reduce the risk of an accident arising from the misuse of lasers. As part of this process, the CAA is working with a wide range of key stakeholders including relevant Government Departments, emergency services, air traffic control, airports, and airlines.

Dartford-Thurrock Crossing: Tolls

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of signage for the Dart Charge in effectively informing users about that charge.

Andrew Jones: Work was undertaken to assess the signage before the launch of Dart Charge in November 2014, with fifty new signs unveiled ahead of its introduction.The initial compliance rate is 92.6% which compares favourably with other similar schemes and indicates strong awareness levels among drivers. However Highways England continue to monitor feedback from customers to see if any enhancements can be made.

Railways: North of England

Holly Lynch: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the schemes recommended for prioritisation in the report of the Rail North Electrification Task Force, published in March 2015; and if he will prioritise electrification of the Calder Valley rail line.

Andrew Jones: The North of England Electrification Task Force placed the Calder Valley Line in the top tier of lines it recommended for future electrification. Network Rail is currently updating its national electrification strategy, which will include the Calder Valley line, and will take the Task Force’s recommendations into account. The updated strategy will be subject to public consultation during 2016 and inform the Government’s strategy for Rail for 2019-2024.

Aviation: South East

Caroline Ansell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what relative weight he plans to give to (a) deliverability and (b) affordability in assessing the option for increasing aviation capacity in the South East; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Government is currently considering the large amount of very detailed analysis contained in the Airports Commission’s final report before taking any decisions on next steps.The Government will carefully consider all the evidence set out when making a decision on additional runway capacity.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency: Job Satisfaction

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency on (a) that agency's staff survey results and (b) recent industrial action affecting that agency; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Initial discussions on the 2015 People Survey results for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) have taken place in senior management fora. Further discussions are planned, including within existing DVSA governance arrangements.The Department for Transport officials have been working closely with the management side at DVSA to try to resolve the industrial dispute, and to help ensure that the disruption to public services is kept to a minimum. The Permanent Secretary for Transport has written twice to the unions since the dispute began urging them to suspend their action and return to discussions with DVSA management.

Railways: Tickets

Caroline Ansell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on the introduction of flexible rail season tickets; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: The introduction and roll-out of part-time season tickets will give people who commute part-time a better deal than they currently have access to. We have challenged the rail industry to develop proposals for pricing and delivering more flexible season tickets for those who work or commute part-time which could also attract new customers onto the railway.We are making progress on delivering more flexible tickets. For example, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) have a franchise commitment to introduce carnet style tickets on their smartcards which is subject to the Secretary of State’s approval. We expect GTR to meet its obligations and are working with them to ensure they are delivered.

Cycling and Walking

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish a statement of funds available for the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Department will publish a statement of funds available for the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy in Spring 2016.

London Airports

Mr Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what account the Airports Commission took of the concern raised by its expert advisors that the failure to account for high value-added international sectors in measuring the agglomeration benefits of the three shortlisted projects was a significant limitation.

Mr Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the probability that the net present value of each of the three shortlisted schemes examined by the Airports Commission is zero or negative.

Mr Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will instruct the Infrastructure and Projects Authority to reproduce Table 7.1 of the Final Report of the Airports Commission, published in July 2015, using the Commission's (a) global growth, (b) relative decline of Europe, (c) low-cost is king and (d) global fragmentation scenarios.

Mr Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will instruct the Infrastructure and Projects Authority to reproduce Table 7.1 of the Final Report of the Airports Commission, published in July 2015, using an appraisal period of (a) 10, (b) 20 and (c) 30 years.

Mr Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will instruct the Infrastructure and Projects Authority to provide 90 per cent confidence intervals for each of the figures in Table 7.1 of the Final Report of the Airports Commission, published in July 2015.

Mr Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the economic impacts of the recommendations of the Airports Commission's Final Report, published in July 2015.

Mr Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Infrastructure and Projects Authority will assume responsibility for future projects to increase airport capacity in the South East.

Mr Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Table 7.1 of the Final Report of the Airports Commission, published in July 2015, if he will commission an assessment of the effect on the data in that table under the Commission's (a) global growth, (b) relative decline of Europe, (c) low-cost is king and (d) global fragmentation scenarios.

Mr Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Table 7.1 of the Final Report of the Airports Commission, published in July 2015, if his Department will make an assessment of the effect on the data in that table under an appraisal period of (a) 10, (b) 20 and (c) 30 years.

Mr Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will make an assessment of the effect on (a) the cost of passenger fares and (b) passenger demand of each of the Airports Commission's three shortlisted schemes and the effect of that cost.

Mr Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the effect on the conclusions of the Airports Commission's Final Report, published in July 2015, of the Commission's decision not to take account of high value-added international sectors in measuring the agglomeration benefits of the three shortlisted projects.

Mr Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Airports Commission estimate of net present value of the three shortlisted schemes took account of the (a) extent to which the cost of each such scheme would be passed to passengers in higher fares and (b) effect of such higher fares on passenger demand.

Mr Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Airports Commission estimated the probability that the net present value of the three shortlisted schemes would be zero or negative; and what that probability was for each shortlisted scheme under the carbon capped and carbon traded policy frameworks.

Mr Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reasons the Airports Commission used his Department's National Air Passenger Demand Model and National Air Passenger Allocation model in its work; whether the assumption of homogenous capacity in those models affected the net present value figures in Table 7.1 of the Commission's Final Report, published in July 2015, compared with a model that distinguished between long and short-haul, business and leisure, and domestic and international capacity; and what assessment he has made of whether the use of a model that distinguishes between such different types of capacity would increase or decrease the net present value of each of those shortlisted schemes.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Government is currently considering the large amount of very detailed analysis contained in the Airports Commission’s final report before taking any decisions on next steps.The Government will carefully consider all the evidence set out, including that on costs, when making a decision on additional runway capacity.

Large Goods Vehicles: Parking

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has received on the provision of lorry parking facilities on the strategic road network; and what steps he is taking to improve the provision of such facilities.

Andrew Jones: We have received three letters on this subject from MPs, plus several from hauliers and lorry drivers. We have also received representations in meetings with the Freight Transport Association, the Road Haulage Association and Unite the Union.We are concerned by suggestions that a lack of suitable, affordable facilities is one of the factors leading to the current shortage of lorry drivers. Therefore we are having discussions with the haulage industry and Highways England to see what improvements are possible.

British Nationals Abroad: Egypt

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 23 November 2015 to Question 16092, how many UK nationals remain in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Regular flights to and from the UK to Sharm el Sheikh were suspended on 4 November. Flights to return UK nationals from Sharm el-Sheikh to the UK, supported by special security measures, ended on Tuesday 17 November. Those flights provided sufficient capacity to return all UK nationals who wished to travel home.In total over 16,000 passengers were returned home, and I commend the carriers who helped in facilitating this process. At the point at which flights stopped, we estimated that there were fewer than 200 UK nationals remaining in Sharm el-Sheikh. UK nationals who chose to remain in Sharm el-Sheikh were advised that they would need to make their own arrangements to travel.We are working closely with the Egyptian authorities on the implementation of sustainable security measures so that flights between the UK and Sharm el-Sheikh can resume as soon as possible.

Aviation: Egypt

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the process is for return of passenger baggage surrendered by passengers in Sharm el-Sheikh; how long he expects it to take for all such baggage to be returned; and under what conditions the transport of the baggage was agreed.

Mr Robert Goodwill: At the same time as passengers were brought home from Sharm el-Sheikh by UK airlines, their baggage was flown back to the UK by cargo aircraft, after having been subjected to security screening. The UK airlines then arranged for return of baggage to their passengers. Most bags were returned within a few days, and all within one week of the relevant flights.

Railways: Tickets

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made on introducing (a) flexible rail season tickets and (b) rail season tickets targeted at part-time workers.

Claire Perry: We have challenged the rail industry to develop proposals for pricing and delivering more flexible season tickets for people who work or commute part-time, which could also attract new customers onto the railway. Some operators, like Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and Arriva Trains Wales, already offer carnet products on selected routes. In addition, GTR and c2c have franchise obligations to offer carnet-based season tickets, and the prospectus for the South-Western franchise includes the expectation that bidders will introduce new, more flexible products that benefit passengers who work or commute part-time.

Home Office

Visas: Palestinians

Dr Tania Mathias: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason UK consular services did not allow medical experts from Gaza to travel to the UK to attend the recent conference at Kingston University on trauma in war zones.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Refugees: Calais

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions her Department has conducted with its French counterpart on co-ordinating humanitarian relief efforts in Calais.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Refugees: Calais

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assistance and advice her Department is providing to UK volunteers offering assistance to refugees in Calais.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Refugees: Calais

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with her French counterpart on securing a long-term solution to the situation in Calais.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Refugees: Calais

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what preparations her Department has made for the increased level of aid required in Calais when winter sets in.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Members: Surveillance

Dr Tania Mathias: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the definition of Designated Individual referred to in paragraph 53 of the Guide to Powers and Safeguards published in the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill, CM 9152, of November 2015, will include parliamentarians.

Mr John Hayes: A Designated Person is an individual within a public authority who authorises a request for communications data and is independent of the investigation for which the authorisation is sought. They must apply additional considerations to an authorisation to access communications data in respect of sensitive professions which include Parliamentarians. This is set out in paragraph 51 of the Guide to the Powers and Safeguards in the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill.

Police: Finance

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has been made of potential changes in local council tax required to maintain overall police spending in real terms.

Mike Penning: The Home Office worked closely with policing partners and other Government Departments as part of Spending Review preparations to ensure flexibility on council tax is a key part of the Spending Review settlement for the police.The Spending Review makes provision for overall police spending to be protected in real terms, when council tax income is taken into account. The ten Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in England with the lowest precept levels in each year will be able to raise their police precept level by up to £5 per year over the Spending Review period, compared to the usual two per cent. These provisions are an integral part of the overall Spending Review settlement for the police.It is right that PCCs, in consultation with local taxpayers, should decide the level of police precept in their area each year.

Police: Finance

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has been made of the cost to police forces of (a) the apprenticeship levy and (b) a single tier pension.

Mike Penning: Home Office officials have written to the National Policing Lead for Workforce Development to ensure that chief constables, who are the employers in each local force, are aware of the opportunity that apprenticeships present as they strive to develop greater workforce flexibility. A number of forces have already taken steps to develop apprentice models and a cross-force working group has been established by forces to consider the matter.We worked closely with policing partners, as part of Spending Review preparations, to understand the impacts on forces of transition to the single-tier state pension. We continue to keep this under review.

Police: Finance

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, whether any reduction in the formula grant will be required for the (a) £1 billion Emergency Services Communication Programme and (b) £500 million additional counter-terrorism funding.

Mike Penning: The Spending Review settlement set out £1 billion investment in the Emergency Services Network (ESN). Final decisions on the treatment of ESN core infrastructure costs within the overall police settlement in 2016/17 will be confirmed as part of the provisional police funding announcement in mid-December.The overall size of Counter Terrorism Policing Grant is negotiated completely separately from the rest of central Government funding to the police. The Spending Review announcement confirmed a real terms increase in funding for counter-terrorism policing. As in previous years, the Counter Terrorism Policing Grant will be ring-fenced. The amount of this funding in 2016/17 will be confirmed as part of the provisional police funding announcement in mid-December.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Yemen: Armed Conflict

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the Government is doing to encourage Saudi Arabia and other parties to the conflict in Yemen to refrain from using explosive weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas in Yemen.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: International Humanitarian Law (IHL) provides that no weapon should be used indiscriminately, disproportionately, or to deliberately target civilians and civilian objects. These rules are applicable to situations where explosive weapons are used in populated areas.We take all reports of alleged violations of IHL in Yemen very seriously. We have raised our concerns with the Saudi Arabian-led coalition and received assurances that they are complying with IHL. We continue to engage with them on those assurances and urge all parties to the conflict to act in compliance with IHL.

Tunisia: Travel Information

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he plans to review his Department's advice against all but essential travel to Tunisia.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We keep our travel advice for Tunisia under regular review, taking into account the current terrorist threat and the Tunisian capacity to deter and respond to that threat. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) discussed the issue with the Tunisian government when he visited on 27 November.

Tunisia: British Nationals Abroad

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the safety of British tourists in Tunisia.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We continue to advise against all but essential travel to Tunisia. We advise any British nationals who choose to travel to or remain in Tunisia to check that their insurance policy provides adequate cover, to be especially vigilant and to follow the advice of the Tunisian security authorities.We have almost doubled our support for Tunisia this year. We are working closely with the Tunisian government to improve their protective security and build their capacity to deter and respond to terrorist threats. We are also working with professionals in the tourist industry in popular tourist areas such as Sousse and Hammamet to build their awareness of the threat and to put in place appropriate security measures.

Members: Correspondence

Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he intends to answer the letter to him from the Right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton to her dated 19 October 2015 on Mr K. Joslin.

Mr David Lidington: I apologise for the delay to the response to the letter from the Right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton of 19 October 2015. The letter covered a number of complex issues and, in order to provide the Rt hon. Member with the most comprehensive response, the reply to this letter has been delayed.I, along with my ministerial colleagues, take correspondence from members of this House very seriously and always seek to provide comprehensive and informative responses.

Libya

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has received from the Libyan Council of Deputies in each of the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We receive regular representations from members of the House of Representatives (also known as Council of Deputies) and other parties in Libya. The UK welcomes the statement of support for a Government of National Accord in Libya signed by the majority of House of Representatives members on November 24, and notes that a majority of General National Congress members in Tripoli also stand firmly in support of a Government of National Accord. Only such a Government can begin the difficult work of establishing effective, legitimate governance, restoring stability, and preserving the unity of the country, as expected by all Libyans. We fully support the UN process led by Special Representative of the Secretary General Martin Kobler as he works to facilitate Libya’s political transition.

Islamic State

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the security risk posed by areas of the Mediterranean shoreline which are under the control of Islamic State; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We are extremely concerned about the growing threat from extremist groups present along the Mediterranean shoreline, including Daesh and groups affiliated with it. These groups pose potential threats to the UK and our interests and citizens overseas, as well as a threat to stability in the region. Where Daesh has a foothold on the Mediterranean shoreline in Libya, we are working closely with international partners to develop our understanding of its presence, and how to tackle it there. We are supporting UN-led efforts to establish a Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya, which will be crucial in the long term to tackling the Daesh threat present in that county and across the region.

Libya: Politics and Government

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support his Department is providing to the Libyan Council of Deputies to (a) tackle ungoverned regions and (b) support the transition to a democratic government in Libya; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The UK has strongly emphasised to the Libyan House of Representatives (aka Council of Deputies) and the other parties of the UN dialogue process that the establishment of a Government of National Accord is an important first step to restoring peace and stability in Libya. Only an inclusive government will deliver the peace and stability that the Libyan people desire and deny the space for Daesh and other extremist groups to operate. The UK stands ready to work with the international community to deliver a significant package of support to help a united Libyan Government of National Accord to deliver a stable and prosperous future for all Libyan citizens.

Libya

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent review his Department has conducted of the security and humanitarian situation in (a) Sirte, (b) Ajdabiya, (c) Benghazi, (d) Derma and (e) Az Zawiya in Libya.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We continue to closely monitor the general security and humanitarian situation in Libya. We are particularly concerned by human rights violations and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in areas including Sirte, Ajdabiya, Benghazi, Derna and Az Zawiya. We condemn the use of violence against civilians committed by Daesh and other armed groups in Libya, and call for those responsible for human rights violations and abuses to be held accountable.

Islamic State: Oil

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his foreign counterparts on preventing the sale of Daesh-controlled oil; and what steps are being taken to prevent such sales.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The UK has led efforts at the UN to make it illegal for any state, company or individual to trade in oil or oil products with Daesh, including co-sponsoring UN Security Council Resolution 2199 in February 2015. This resolution requires all states to prevent the transfer of economic resources to Daesh. We work closely and continually with allies, particularly in the region, to ensure Resolution 2199 is implemented.In addition to UN measures, we have worked to ensure that individuals involved in brokering oil deals between Daesh and the Assad regime have been sanctioned by the EU.We have held bilateral and multilateral discussions, including within the Global Coalition’s Counter ISIL Finance Group on this issue. The UK is expanding its work to help regional partners enforce sanctions and stop smuggling. We are also working with the private sector to ensure it takes seriously its responsibilities to ensure Daesh cannot access the spare parts and fuel additives it needs for its oil industry to function.

Islamic State: Oil

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of how many barrels of oil Daesh sell on a daily basis; and which countries are involved in the purchase of that oil.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We estimate that Daesh generates around $1.5 million a day in revenue from oil sales, equating to a daily crude production of between 34000 and 40000 barrels. The oil comes primarily from fields in Northern Syria. The vast majority is consumed by Daesh, sold within the territory it controls, or smuggled into regional black markets. The only Government we have evidence of being involved in purchasing oil from Daesh is the Assad regime.Individuals involved in brokering oil deals between Daesh and the Assad regime have been sanctioned by the EU. The UK has also led efforts at the UN to make it illegal for any state, company or individual to trade in oil or oil products with Daesh, including co-sponsoring UN Security Council Resolution 2199 in February 2015. We work closely and continually with allies, particularly in the region, to ensure Resolution 2199 is implemented, sanctions are enforced and all smuggling is stopped.

Syria: Armed Conflict

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Prime Minister's oral contribution of 26 November 2015, Official Report, column 1535, what the estimated transition period is for stability post war.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The International Syria Support Group has set out a target timeline for transition. This timeline includes the start of Syrian-led negotiations under UN auspices by 1 January 2016; transition within six months; and free and fair elections within 18 months. We are working with international partners to meet those targets and to provide the support needed to ensure that Syria can return to stability.

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Office: Research

Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much of her Department's funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.

Mr Ben Wallace: My Department has no funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 for research and development expenditure. Funding for research and development expenditure in Northern Ireland is allocated to NI Executive Departments.

Polling Stations: Northern Ireland

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps her Department is taking to consult people in Northern Ireland Assembly constituencies which will be affected by proposed changes in polling station locations.

Mr Ben Wallace: The design and publication of polling station schemes for elections in Northern Ireland is an operational matter for the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland.The Chief Electoral Officer published a consultation on a proposed polling station scheme for use at the May 2016 Assembly elections on 19 November with a closing date of 11 February 2016. The Chief Electoral Officer intends to publish the final scheme in the first week of March. Details of the consultation may be found on the Electoral Office website at: http://www.eoni.org.uk/News/Publication-of-Proposed-Amendments-to-the-Poll-(1).

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

UK Export Finance

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make it his policy to eliminate UK Export Finance investments in coal plants and coal mining overseas.

Anna Soubry: There are no plans to ban support for exports of goods and services to coal plants and coal mining overseas. However, applications to UK Export Finance (UKEF) which fall within the ambit of the OECD Common Approaches for Officially Supported Export Credits and Environmental and Social Due Diligence will require that coal projects meet international, environmental, social, and human rights standards to qualify for support.   UKEF is participating in discussions in the OECD with the aim of achieving a multilateral agreement on limiting the provision of export credits for coal-fired power projects and an agreement is expected to be reached later in November.

World Economy

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the 2013 Lough Erne G8 Leaders' Communiqué, published on 18 June 2013, what progress has been made on implementing the commitments in paragraph 9 of that document; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: The World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Trade Facilitation, agreed at the Bali Ministerial in December 2013, is expected to significantly reduce the costs of cross-border trade, including between developing countries.The Agreement was opened for acceptance by WTO Members in November 2014 and, to date, 51 WTO Members, including all EU Member States, have ratified.

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2015 to Question 13713, for what reasons all of Lord Green of Hustierpoint's updates on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership dated before 6 August 2015 cannot be deposited in the Library.

Anna Soubry: Previous updates to the European Scrutiny Committees of both Houses and the APPG for EU-US Trade and Investment are being deposited in the Libraries of both Houses.

Small Businesses: Exports

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps the Government is taking to increase the access to finance of small and medium-sized enterprises seeking to export.

Anna Soubry: UK Export Finance (UKEF) has established a cadre of Export Finance Advisors based around the UK so exporters can access advice locally where they are seeking finance for export transactions which they are unable to obtain from the private market.UKEF offers products to assist SME exporters in such circumstances where the risks are acceptable, including an Export Working Capital Scheme. It is looking to enhance its products using new Statutory powers that came into force earlier in 2015. It is also planning to improve accessibility to those products delivered through banks and simplify documentation, including application forms and associated processes, where appropriate, by digital means, that should help speed-up decision-taking and response times.The Government is currently consulting on simplifying the anti-bribery Declarations and Undertakings exporters are required to provide UKEF. UKEF liaises with the British Business Bank to ensure each other’s products are complementary and fill gaps in the provisions of support where this is unavailable from the private market.

Trade Promotion

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to promote British business in (a) Australia, (b) Canada and (c) New Zealand.

Anna Soubry: We are taking forward our manifesto commitment to strengthen relationships with Australia and New Zealand and bilateral trade plays an important part of this. Our trade campaigns are focussed on the strongest growing sectors that match UK business strengths. Australia continues to offer particularly good opportunities for UK firms in transport infrastructure witha Laing O’Rourke led consortium winning a £2.1bn highway upgrade project earlier in the year. Other sectors of opportunity include: defence, urban regeneration & construction, airports, rail, ICT & software, food & beverage. The changing dynamics in the world economy have reduced demand for UK oil & gas expertise but we are continuing to explore opportunities in renewable energy.We are also using the GREAT Campaign to provide platforms for UK firms to network through business events around Rugby World Cup, Bond, the Clipper Yacht Race, Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Melbourne and a broader Culture is GREAT campaign in Victoria. Trade missions from London, Northern Ireland and a sports infrastructure themed mission organised by Major Events International have all visited Australia in 2015. We are also supporting the launching of EU-Australia Free Trade Agreement talks and we maintain a strong flow of ministerial and high-level official contacts in support of the bilateral relationship including on trade and investment.In New Zealand particularly good opportunities continue for UK firms in transport infrastructure, defence,construction, airports, rail, and food & beverage. Our campaigns have exposed senior New Zealand infrastructure leaders to UK infrastructure best practice which has helped eight UK companies win contracts totalling over £28m this financial year.We are using the GREAT Campaign here to provide platforms for UK firms to network through business events around Rugby World Cup, Bond and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Wellington. Trade missions from London and companies from Northern Ireland visited in 2015. We also strongly support the launch of negotiations on an EU-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement and we will continue to use ministerial engagement in 2016 to further trade and business objectives.In Canada, our efforts are focussed on those sectors with the highest potential for British business and where the UK has competitive advantage. These include: energy, infrastructure, transport, financial services, creative industries and defence and security. Activities in the past three months to deliver this include: a Northern Ireland Minister led trade mission to Montreal & Toronto; securing business for UK film producers at the Toronto International Film Festival; deliver a 12 day programme of GREAT activity in Toronto and supporting low carbon technology at the opening of Shell’s Carbon Capture and Storage facility in Alberta. In 2016 we will promote the Canada EU comprehensive economic and trade agreement which will deliver substantial benefit for UK business. This will include publication of a report to highlight specific opportunities for UK business afforded by CETA and a roadshow of profile raising UK events targeted at businesses.

Living Wage

Mr Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of the National Living Wage on wage growth in (a) Peterborough and (b) England; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Boles: The new National Living Wage is an essential part of moving to a higher wage, lower tax, lower welfare society; it ensures that work pays, and reduces reliance on the State topping up wages through the benefits system. The Government’s target is for the National Living Wage to reach 60% of median earnings by 2020, and we have asked the Low Pay Commission to recommend the National Living Wage going forward.The Office for Budget Responsibility published its latest analysis of the impact on 25 November, here: http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/economic-fiscal-outlook-november-2015/The Government will be publishing an impact assessment for the National Living Wage in due course.

Adult Education: Finance

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the Spending Review 2015, what savings and efficiencies he will make from the adult skills budget by 2019-20; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Boles: My Rt hon Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer published the results of the Spending Review on 25th November. This is a good settlement for FE. Between 2010-11 and 2019-20 government will have doubled spending on apprenticeships in cash terms to £2.5 billion, including income from the new apprenticeship levy and protecting funding for the core adult skills participation budgets in cash terms, at £1.5 billionThe Government will make £362 million of savings and efficiencies from adult skills funding by 2019-20. We are prioritising funding for participation, with savings being made from supporting budgets. We are also restructuring the sector through locally-led Area Reviews to provide sustainable and high quality provision in the future.

Partnerships

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what mechanisms are in place to ensure transparency of the ownership of limited partnerships; what plans he has to (a) improve such transparency and (b) ensure that such partnerships are not set up for money laundering purposes; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: To improve transparency, the Department has established a publicly accessible central register of people with significant control (PSC register) through the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015.The PSC register will be an easily accessible single source of information about the ultimate owners and controllers of UK companies, Limited Liability Partnerships and Societas Europeae. From June 2016, these corporate entities will be required to make their beneficial ownership information publically available through the UK register of companies.It is already a legal requirement that the name of each of the partners of limited partnerships be submitted to Companies House on registration. This information is available to the public free of charge through the new Companies House beta service. Companies House also works collaboratively with other government departments and agencies to tackle crime and fraud, including money laundering.We are currently considering the scope of the UK register to ensure we comply with the European Union’s Fourth Money Laundering Directive, which requires corporate and other legal entities to obtain and hold beneficial ownership information.

Investment: Treaties

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what his policy is on the European Commission's request of 18 June 2015 to five EU member states to terminate intra-EU bilateral investment treaties.

Anna Soubry: The UK is participating in discussions with the Commission and other Member States on possible options and approaches towards handling the Commission’s request, regarding the termination of these treaties. These discussions are at an early stage and no consensus has been reached among Member States.

Higher Education: Admissions

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 29 October 2015 to Question 12715, what steps his Department plans to take to increase the number of (a) pupils from state-funded schools and (b) pupils from state-funded schools who receive free school meals who enter higher education.

Joseph Johnson: We have already taken significant steps to widen participation in higher education. In particular, from 2015/16, we have removed the cap on student numbers, enabling more people than ever before to benefit from higher education. We have also established a stronger framework with increased responsibility placed on providers to widen access. The Director of Fair Access has agreed 183 Access Agreements for 2016/17 containing an estimated £745m to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds – up from £404m in 2009/10.The Green Paper Fulfilling our Potential: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice, CM 9141 sets out additional steps the Government plans to take to increase the proportion of students from disadvantaged background entering higher education including through the new guidance that we plan to issue to the Director of Fair Access, and through the social mobility taskforce being set up by Universities UK.

Construction: Billing

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent support his Department has provided to building construction firms to ensure their bills are paid on time.

Nick Boles: Late payment remains an important issue for small businesses in the UK. The Government is taking significant steps to assist small businesses to recover late payment debts.Through the Enterprise Bill, currently before Parliament, we will legislate to establish a Small Business Commissioner to help small business resolve disputes with large companies, tackling, in particular, late payment. The Commissioner will act as a disincentive to unfavourable payment practices, and build the confidence and capabilities of small businesses to help them to assert themselves in contractual disputes and negotiate more effectively with larger businesses.This is part of a package of measures to tackle late payment. We have also legislated for new transparency measures in the public and private sectors. This will allow full public scrutiny of payment performance.We have also strengthened the Prompt Payment Code to ensure it is a recognised and demonstrated beacon of best practice, and we recently consulted on proposals to give representative bodies wider powers to challenge grossly unfair payment practices.Government promotes fair payment practices in construction through legislation (the “Construction Act”), the use of public procurement (promoting prompt payment to Tier 3 and the use of Project Bank Accounts), and by working with the industry through voluntary measures (such as the Prompt Payment Code and the Construction Leadership Council’s Payment Charter).The Payment Charter includes a commitment of zero retentions by 2025. To support this work, the Government recently announced a review of the practice of cash retentions under construction contracts.Tackling late payment is about creating a responsible payment culture where larger companies recognise the benefit of having a sustainable and robust supply chain, and smaller businesses feel able to challenge poor behaviour. Once implemented, the Government is confident that these measures will lead to significant changes in the UK’s payment culture.

UK Government Investments

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the contribution of 30 November 2015 by Lord Mendelsohn, in the House of Lords, Official Report, column 937, if he will place in the Library a copy of the letter referred to on the amendment concerning UK Government Investments Limited.

Anna Soubry: A copy of the letter to Lord Mendelsohn, dated 27 November, referred to during the debate on the Enterprise Bill on 30 November 2015, has been placed in the Libraries of the House. A previous letter to Lord Mendelsohn, dated 19 November, also on the subject of UK Government Investments, has also been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Department for International Development

Syria: Internally Displaced People

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many Syrians are temporarily displaced within Syria; and how many such people are displaced from (a) Daesh controlled areas, (b) Syrian government controlled areas and (c) other areas of conflict.

Mr Desmond Swayne: The UK has been at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have pledged over £1.1 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. We are the second largest bilateral donor after the US.The UN estimates that there are now 6.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) inside Syria.We are unable to assess the exact numbers of people displaced from areas controlled by different parties to the conflict. Estimations of internal displacement are complicated by shifting front lines and the fact that most Syrian IDPs have been displaced multiple times.

Syria: Reconstruction

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to her oral contribution of 26 November 2015, Official Report, column 1535, what estimate has been made of the cost of reconstruction of Syria after the cessation of conflict there; what the timeframe required for reconstruction in that country will be; what countries have confirmed contributions to that reconstruction; and what the value of each such contribution will be.

Mr Desmond Swayne: The UK has been at the forefront of the international response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. We have committed over £1.1 billion to date, making us the second largest bilateral donor to the international response.The World Bank suggests that reconstructing Syria could cost at least $170bn. Most countries take decades to recover from war on this scale. The UK has always punched above its weight in helping deal with the effects of the Syria crisis. We will continue to do so for the reconstruction of Syria. The PM announced last week that we will commit at least £1 billion to Syria’s reconstruction in the longer term.We have planned for the endgame since the beginning of this conflict and during the Geneva process. We have learned lessons from previous conflicts. We are now updating our planning to reflect the timeline envisaged in the Vienna process and are asking others to do the same. We anticipate the United Nations to coordinate the international response and will use our position as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to support this.

Department for Education

Languages: Education

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of school children studying foreign languages.

Nick Gibb: Since September 2014, maintained primary schools in England have been required to teach a modern or ancient foreign language to pupils at key stage 2 (covering the ages 7 to 11).The Government took action in 2010 to halt the decline in the number of school children taking language GCSEs by introducing the English Baccalaureate (EBacc). This has had a positive effect on the take up of languages in schools, with a rise in the proportion of the cohort in state funded schools entered for a modern foreign language from 40% of pupils in 2010 to a provisional figure of 49% in 2015.As part of the Government’s commitment to increase the numbers of pupils taking the EBacc, all but a small minority of pupils who started secondary school this September will be expected to study a language to GCSE level. We are consulting on these proposals. To attract further applicants for initial teacher training (ITT), we have increased bursaries for secondary languages ITT trainees for 2016/17.

Teachers: Recruitment

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 30 October 2015 to Question 13838, how many schools with whom her Department is discussing its STEM international recruitment programme have expressed an interest in recruiting teachers through that programme.

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2015 to Question 13848, with which schools her Department is discussing its STEM international recruitment programme; and how many of these schools are recruiting teachers internationally.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education discusses international recruitment with a number of schools and does not keep a list of the schools with which such discussions take place.The department does not monitor individual schools’ recruitment activities. This is a matter for schools.

Children's Centres: Health Visitors

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to improve integrated working between health visitors and children's centres.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on future provision of universal early childhood services through childhood centres.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Children’s centres provide access to health services – either by providing the services or by providing advice and assistance on gaining access to services. Local authorities and local health commissioners have statutory duties to consider providing services through children’s centres to ensure that families get access to the services they need. The transfer of responsibility for public health services to local authorities in October this year provides new opportunities for local areas to configure health services to best effect.The Department of Health has been working with local authorities in order to ensure sharing regular and timely updates of live birth data between NHS trusts and children’s centres and have mapped out a process for putting in place appropriate arrangements to support a national solution.Children's centres can also have a key role in delivering integrated reviews, which check a child's health and educational progress at age two.Future policy on children’s centres will be informed by the planned consultation on the future of children’s centre services, which is due to be launched shortly.

Schools: West Sussex

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will place in the Library a copy of the underlying local wage data used to calculate the area cost adjustment factor for the (a) West Sussex Fringe and (b) West Sussex Non-Fringe element of the school grant.

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will place in the Library a map showing the area covered by her Department's definition of the (a) West Sussex Fringe and (b) West Sussex Non-Fringe.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The area cost adjustment for the schools block of the dedicated schools grant for 2015-16 is based on a combination of a teacher cost adjustment and a general labour market specific cost adjustment for non-teaching staff pay.Teacher cost adjustments for the four regional pay bands (and the area cost adjustment itself) was published in the technical note to “Fairer schools funding: arrangements for 2015 to 2016”: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fairer-schools-funding-arrangements-for-2015-to-2016The general labour market specific cost adjustment was calculated and published by the Department for Communities and Local Government in “Methodology Guide for the Area Cost Adjustment 2013/14”: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140505104649/http://www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/1314/methacas.pdfThe methodology for combining the teacher and general labour market elements into the area cost adjustment is described in Annex C of “Fairer schools funding 2015 to 2016”: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/fairer-schools-funding-2015-to-2016A map showing the area covered by the Department’s definition of a) the West Sussex Fringe and b) the West Sussex Non-Fringe is attached. 



West Sussex: Fringe and Non-Fringe Map
(Word Document, 2.12 MB)

Mental Illness: Children

Ben Howlett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made on the contribution of statutory PHSE to supporting young people with mental health issues.

Edward Timpson: Schools play an important role in promoting good mental health and supporting children and young people facing difficulties. In the introduction to the national curriculum, we have made clear that all schools should make provision for PSHE.The Department funded the PSHE Association to publish guidance on teaching about mental health in PSHE. This was published in March 2015 and is available online: www.pshe-association.org.uk/resources. Our Mental Health and Behaviour advice helps teachers to identify and support pupils with mental health needs, including advice on making referrals to specialist services when appropriate. Our blueprint for school counselling services provides schools with practical, evidence-based advice on how to deliver high quality school based counselling.The government has made children and young people’s mental health support a priority. We are investing an additional £1.4bn in children and young people’s and perinatal mental health services over the next 5 years. We are also contributing £1.5m to a joint pilot for training single points of contact in schools and specialist mental health services; and, through a dedicated mental health strand within our VCS programme, we are providing £4.9m of funding this year to support 17 projects delivering a wide range of support across the country to children and young people with mental health issues.

Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education

Ben Howlett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to address the effect of pornography on girls' impressions of sexual relations.

Edward Timpson: Education can play a vital role in helping young people understand healthy relationships and identify those which are unhealthy. Sex and relationships education (SRE) must be taught in all maintained secondary schools and we expect most secondary academies teach it as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. Any school teaching SRE must have regard to the Secretary of State’s Sex and Relationship Education Guidance (2000).The guidance makes clear that all sex and relationship education should be age-appropriate and that schools should ensure young people develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour. This is particularly relevant to sexual consent and the guidance makes clear that all young people should understand how the law applies to sexual relationships. The guidance is available online: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sex-and-relationship-educationSchools can also choose to teach about pornography in their PSHE lessons drawing on the guidance and resources available. The PSHE Association has produced a suggested programme of study as guidance for teachers, which includes teaching about the impact of pornography. We commissioned the PSHE Association to produce guidance for schools on teaching about the topic of consent, which was published in March 2015 and is available online: https://www.pshe-association.org.uk/content.aspx?CategoryID=1161.

Teachers: Labour Turnover

Caroline Ansell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve the retention rate of newly qualified teachers; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: Teacher retention rates have remained stable for over a decade. Approximately 90 per cent of teachers are in service in the year after they qualify, and 72 per cent of those who qualified in 2009 were still teaching 5 years later. Over the longer term, over 60 per cent of teachers remain in service 10 years after qualifying.But we recognise that it is vital for schools to be able to retain good teachers – that is why we have made significant policy interventions in the areas that teachers tell us matter most such as improving pupil behaviour and reducing unnecessary workload. We have appointed behaviour expert Tom Bennett to lead a review to ensure new teachers are fully trained in dealing with disruptive children, and to consider all of the challenges of managing behaviour in 21st century schools.We have established three groups to address the biggest concerns that teachers raised in the workload challenge - marking, planning and data management. The groups will create principles for practice and make specific recommendations for action. All three groups are due to report to Ministers in spring 2016.

Schools: Broadband

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the cost of broadband access for primary and secondary schools.

Mr Sam Gyimah: £1.7 billion of public funding has been committed to support improvements in broadband services across the UK. The Superfast Broadband Programme aims to make superfast broadband available to 95 per cent of UK premises by 2017.Costs will vary from school to school depending on location and how much they use the internet. The type of connectivity that the government funded broadband programme needs will not be suitable for secondary schools. They will need a dedicated connection because of their high bandwidth demands. The Department for Education does not hold information about the cost of broadband access for schools.

Pupils: Burnley

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children are in (a) primary and (b) secondary education in Burnley.

Nick Gibb: The January 2015 school census recorded a total of 8,062 pupils in state funded primary schools and 4,743 pupils in state funded secondary schools in the Burnley constituency.[1][1] Figures calculated from the underlying data of the ‘schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2015’ statistics, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2015

Mature Students

Caroline Ansell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support the Goverment is providing for mature students who wish to enter the teaching profession; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: Mature students are an important source of new teachers and bring relevant knowledge and skills from their previous employment. In 2015/16, 21 per cent of new entrants to initial teacher training (ITT) courses were aged 30 or over. To attract more potential career changers, our marketing campaign, ‘Your Future, Their Future’, uses a range of media, including television advertising, national newspaper advertising and targeted digital and print communications. As part of this we will be running the ‘New Year New Career’ sub-campaign, which is dedicated to attracting career changers, throughout January 2016.We provide support specifically for career changers to make the transition to teaching, especially in the subjects where they are needed the most, including:The School Direct (salaried) route is specifically targeted at career changers with three years’ work experience and allows them to earn a salary whilst they train to teach. We provide grant funding to schools to subsidise the costs of salary and training for trainees on this route.For ITT 2016/17, we are working with 18 School Direct lead schools to develop and recruit to part-time and abridged School Direct (salaried) courses in maths and physics starting in September 2016. The aim of this pilot is to test whether schools can attract more career changers by offering flexible training routes which meet the needs of different individuals.In addition, career changers can access extensive support that is available for all ITT candidates. This includes bursaries or scholarships of up to £30,000 tax-free; advice and guidance from the expert advisers on the Get Into Teaching Line; help with arranging school experience to assist with their ITT application; and access to our free Train to Teach events.Those who wish to teach secondary biology, geography, maths, physics, chemistry, languages or computing are also eligible for our enhanced Premier Plus service. This includes tailored advice from a dedicated adviser, including the practicalities that often affect career changers, such as childcare funding. Applicants who wish to teach these subjects can also access funded Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) courses, through which they can boost or refresh their subject knowledge.

Teachers: North West

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers in (a) Burnley, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West left teaching profession in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012, (iv) 2013, (v) 2014 and (v) 2015.

Nick Gibb: The information requested is not available.

Sixth Form Colleges

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether sixth form colleges participating in the first wave of area reviews will be able to apply for academy status.

Nick Boles: Sixth form colleges participating in the first wave of area reviews will be able to apply for academy status.The Joint Area Review Delivery Unit will work with sixth form colleges in the first wave of reviews to ensure that they have the opportunity to apply as part of the review in their area, and to prepare applications in advance of the publication of detailed criteria in February 2016.

GCSE

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the attainment gap is between pupils receiving free school meals achieving five or more GCSEs including English and mathematics and their peers (a) nationally and (b) in the South West region.

Nick Gibb: Information on the percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals, and all other pupils, who achieve five or more GCSEs including English and mathematics is published at national and regional level as part of the “GCSE and equivalent attainment by pupil characteristics: 2014” statistical first release. [1][1] 2013/14 revised regions level tables can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/402634/SFR06_2015_National_and_LA.xls. (Table 1 and Table 5 for national and regional figures respectively)

Further Education

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many area reviews of further education there are which (a) have been completed, (b) are scheduled but have not yet begun, (c) are currently underway and (d) are currently underway and have met at least four times.

Nick Boles: The first wave of area reviews began between September and November 2015.No area reviews have yet been completed. Each review will take approximately three to four months to complete, taking local needs into account. We expect all reviews to be completed by March 2017.The second wave of area reviews is due to begin in 2016. We have recently published details of the second wave, along with indicative information on later stages. Reviews covering Greater London are yet to be confirmed and will be announced shortly. We expect there to be around 40 reviews in total.There are seven first wave area reviews currently underway. These are in Birmingham and Solihull, Greater Manchester, Sheffield City Region, Tees Valley, Sussex, Solent, and West Yorkshire. None of the first seven area reviews have met four times.

Sixth Form Colleges

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Oral Contribution of the Chancellor of Exchequer of 25 November 2015, Official Report, column 1370, how sixth form colleges that (a) have not been involved in area reviews, (b) are currently involved in area reviews and (c) have previously been involved in area reviews which have now concluded or will soon conclude will apply for academy status.

Nick Boles: Detailed guidance on the criteria and application process for area reviews will be published in February 2016. All sixth form colleges in England will have the opportunity to apply as part of the relevant area review. Their applications will be considered alongside other recommendations from the review in their area.The Joint Area Review Delivery Unit will work with the sixth form colleges included in the first wave of reviews, which is currently under way, to ensure that they have the opportunity to develop information to support an application and to prepare applications in advance of the publication of detailed criteria in February.Three sixth form colleges were included in two pilot post-16 area reviews earlier this year. These reviews have now concluded and their recommendations are being implemented. We are currently considering how to ensure that these colleges have the opportunity to apply during later stages of the area reviews programme whilst maintaining current progress towards implementation of the earlier reviews’ findings.

Gambling: Education

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to encourage educational establishments that cater for people between 16 and 18 years old to teach the dangers of problem gambling.

Edward Timpson: All 16-19 year olds are now offered study programmes that bring together the qualifications, English and maths, and work experience – the skills that will prepare them for employment or further learning. The study programme principles enable all students to take a programme that meets their needs and helps them progress to the next stage of their career, whether it be employment, an apprenticeship or further study.We are also investing £5 million in character education and have awarded £3.5 million grants for 2015/16 to support 14 projects in character development. These include projects delivering competitive sport; volunteering and social action; links with local businesses and work experience. We have also made £1 million available to the Education Endowment Fund (EEF) to build evidence and expand research into the most effective ways that character can be developed. Character is the sum of qualities and attributes which enable young people to make the right choices, to withstand adversity, and pursue an aspirational life.

Ministry of Justice

Prisons: Crimes of Violence

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults were recorded on prison staff on duty in 2014-15.

Andrew Selous: We do not tolerate violence of any kind in prison and any assault is treated extremely seriously. Any prisoner who commits an act of violence can expect to have action taken against them.Statistics for assaults on staff are published in the Safety in Custody statistics bulletin.The information requested may be found in the 'Summary tables April 2004 to March 2015' at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-march-2015

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence: Public Expenditure

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent from the public purse on professional fees in each of the last five years.

Mr Philip Dunne: Defence expenditure on fees for professional services in each of the last five financial years (FY) is provided below:Professional Fees £ millions2014-152013-142012-132011-122010-11718497354308316The increase in expenditure from FY 2013-14 is mainly attributable to the Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) organisation spending on Private Sector Support (PSS). PSS provides DE&S with critical technical support, while also using that support to design and develop the tools and processes required to upskill staff and transform the organisation.Expenditure on PSS (£227 million in FY 2014-15 included in the table above) was previously assigned to the Equipment Programme, but moved to the Professional Services category following the creation of the Bespoke Trading Entity.

Military Bases

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average accommodation and travel costs relating to training at (a) MOD Grantown-on-Spey, (b) MOD Llanwrst, (c) MOD Fairbourne (d) MOD Crickhowell were in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Military Bases

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what student satisfaction surveys are conducted after training at (a) MOD Grantown-on-Spey, (b) MOD Llanwrst, (c) MOD Fairbourne and (d) MOD Crickhowell; what the average satisfaction rate is; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster: Student surveys at Joint School for Adventurous Training Instructors (JSATI) Llanrwst, Force Development Training Centre (FDTC) Crickhowell, Fairbourne and Grantown-on-Spey are conducted at the end of each training course. The information is analysed against training objectives and used for continuous improvement purposes. Students are not requested to provide an overall rating for satisfaction.

Military Bases

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many square meters of stores facilities are available at (a) MOD Grantown-on-Spey, (b) MOD Llanwrst, (c) MOD Fairbourne and (d) MOD Crickhowell; when storage was built in each of those establishments; what the average cost of those storage facilities is; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster: The square metres of storage space at each of the four locations are as follows:Training CentreStorage Space (sqm)Force Development Training Centre (FDTC) Crickhowell302FDTC Fairbourne400FDTC Grantown-on-Spey400JointSchool for Adventurous Training Instructors (JSATI) Llanwrst502Records of when the storage facilities were built are not held. However no storage facilities have been built in the last year. Scoping work for a new storage facility at FDTC Crickhowell is ongoing.

Ministry of Defence: Travel

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his departmental expenditure was on travel for (a) military staff, (b) civilian staff and (c) Ministers in each of the previous five years.

Mark Lancaster: This information is not available in the format requested. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) routinely distinguishes between military and civilian travel and subsistence costs only where these are reimbursed to the individual under our pay and claim arrangements.Overall departmental expenditure on travel and subsistence has, however, been as follows:Financial YearExpenditure2010-11£226 million2011-12£213 million2012-13£213 million2013-14£212 million2014-15£221 millionExpenditure by the Defence Ministers on travel and subsistence has been as follows.Financial YearExpenditure2010-11£297,1262011-12£295,9222012-13£225,3002013-14£262,1842014-15£259,849Note: This expenditure includes road transport, rail travel, international and domestic flights and the notional costs of travel in RAF aircraft where they have been available.Travel by the Defence Ministers and all departmental staff makes a key contribution to achieving Defence objectives. The MOD has sites in many parts of the country, and internationally, and staff need to travel between them. For example, travel enables Ministers and senior leaders to visit troops on operations or to hold discussions with other governments aimed at reducing conflict.We have achieved savings of over £60 million a year in non-operational travel since 2009-10 and plan to make further savings of 10% over the rest of this Parliament. These savings will be delivered in a number of ways, including a reduction in travel where the business need can be met by alternative arrangements such as video or audio conferencing.

Armed Forces

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, from which branches of the armed forces the 10,000 military personnel on standby to assist civil authorities in case of significant terrorist incidents referred to in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 are to be drawn.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what he plans the force generation ratios to be for the 10,000 military personnel on standby to assist civil authorities in case of significant terrorist incidents referred to in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015.

Michael Fallon: Of the 10,000 military personnel on standby in the UK, some units are placed on standby on a rolling basis, while others have specific geographic responsibilities which they meet from their available manpower.Military personnel will be drawn from all three Services, with the majority being supplied from the Army.

HMS Ocean

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons it is proposed to retire HMS Ocean in 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne: When HMS OCEAN entered service in 1998 she had a specified service life, based on her build specification, of 20 years.The decision to retire HMS Ocean is consistent with the intent expressed in paragraph 2.A.5 in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010. As part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 the Royal Navy will retain two landing Platform Dock vessels in the fleet.

Armed Forces: Deployment

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 49 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, in which countries he plans to locate British defence staffs in 2016.

Mr Julian Brazier: The decision as to where locations of where British Defence Staffs (BDS) will be based has yet to be finalised. The intention of establishing BDS is to build on our existing overseas networks (including Defence Attaches, Liaison and Exchange Officers and Training Teams) in order to provide a cross-regional focus, and improved coordination and coherence, to Defence Engagement activity. We review our overseas footprint regularly to match the requirement and this work is in conjunction with the development of a Defence Engagement Career Field within the UK Armed Forces, improved training, preparation and development for our overseas cohort and greater alignment with other Government Departments with deployed networks.Once decisions have been made on the future of BDS I will write to the hon. Member to update her.

Nuclear Submarines

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans for the first of the Successor submarines to enter service; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne: As stated in paragraph 4.76 in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 15 (Cm9161), we expect the first Successor submarine to enter service in the early 2030s.

Afghanistan: Armed Conflict

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many women were injured while serving in Afghanistan in each year of the UK's engagement in war in that country.

Penny Mordaunt: The table below provides a summary of the number of UK female Service personnel injured in Afghanistan in each year between 7 October 2001 (start of operations in Afghanistan) and 30 November 2014 (end of NATO combat operations).Female UK Service Personnel Injured in Afghanistan by injury classification and year, 7 October 2001- 30 November 2014. 1.Female Military in AfghanistanAll7 Oct 2001-31 Dec 200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014All injured female personnel20602332319243023313414Battle injury24000011464431Non-Battle injury18102332218202419263113Disease/ Non-Battle injury 210000000001001 Based on year of Injury, numbers exclude female personnel who were injured and subsequently died.2 For these UK Female Service Personnel it has not been possible to determine from electronic records held by Defence Statistics if they were injured or had an illness. The record identifies these personnel as Disease/Non Battle Injury.

Armed Forces: Retirement

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has estimated the cost to the public purse of making payments to support military veterans who retired with fewer than 22 years' service before 5 April 1975.

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the standard of living of those military veterans who retired with fewer than 22 years' service before 5 April 1975 of the provisions of the Social Security Acts 1973 and 1975.

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department plans to assist financially those military veterans who retired with fewer than 22 years' service before 5 April 1975.

Mark Lancaster: No estimate has been made of the cost of resolving legacy pension issues although it would likely cost the tax-payer billions of pounds; the issue of pre-1975 pensions does not just affect the Armed Forces, but is common to all other public service schemes in existence prior to the Social Security Act 1973.

Libya: Islamic State

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what review he has conducted of the operational capacity of Islamic State in Libya; and if he will make a statement.

Penny Mordaunt: We are extremely concerned about and closely monitoring the growing threat from extremist groups in Libya, including groups affiliated with Daesh. These groups threaten Libya, her regional neighbours and UK interests in the region. We have seen barbaric and appalling acts of terror inside Libya, including the targeting of others because of their faith. Daesh continues to commit appalling atrocities, including, most recently, in Sirte.

Armed Forces: Training

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2015 to Question 17694, if he will place in the Library documents his Department holds on the Force Development and Adventure Training review; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster: The key documents will be placed in the Library of the House following appropriate redactions.

Ministry of Defence: Public Expenditure

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2015 to Question 17695, how many studies have been completed under JSP507 in each year since 2005; what the title was of each such study; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate costs.

Armed Forces: Training

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how his Department assesses the cost per trainee for force development and adventure training; whether costs for force development are assessed separately to those for adventure training; what the cost is for (a) force development and (b) adventure training; and if he will make a statement.

Penny Mordaunt: The requested information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Syria: Armed Conflict

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Prime Minister's Oral Statement of 26 November 2015, Official Report, columns 1489-94, what assessment he has made of the level of co-ordination among the 70,000 ground forces referred to as international partners fighting ISIS.

Michael Fallon: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 1 December 2015 to Question number 17826 to the hon. Member for Brighton Pavilion (Caroline Lucas).



Syria: Armed Conflict
(Word Document, 15.62 KB)

Armed Forces: Interpreters

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his policy is on interpreters working on behalf of the UK armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan who wish to seek resettlement in the UK.

Penny Mordaunt: For information on Iraq, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my noble Friend, the Minister of State for Defence, the Rt Hon Earl Howe, to the noble Lady, Baroness Jolly, in the House of Lords to Question HL3606.In Afghanistan, the Ex-Gratia Redundancy Scheme offers nearly 500 eligible local staff, including interpreters, the opportunity to apply for relocation to the UK. More than 200 have already been granted visas and have moved to the UK with their immediate families. Others are going through the application process or are still in our employment.



Iraq Military Intervention
(Word Document, 14.28 KB)

Syria: Military Intervention

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Prime Minister's oral contribution of 26 November 2015, Official Report, column 1535, what country is responsible for the co-ordination of ground troops; and which coalition countries have agreed to the methodology referred to.

Michael Fallon: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister on 1 December 2015 to Question 17826 to the hon. Member for Brighton Pavilion (Caroline Lucas).



Syria: Armed Conflict
(Word Document, 15.62 KB)

Department for Work and Pensions

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Mr David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the contribution of the Minister of State for Work and Pensions of 23 November 2015, Official Report, column 467HL, what the evidential basis is for her statement that most of the women affected by state pension equalisation have accepted this.

Justin Tomlinson: My noble friend, the Minister for Pensions, engages regularly with older workers, employers and other stakeholders. The Minister for Pensions was summarising from her frequent discussions with these groups.All women affected by faster equalisation will reach State Pension age after the introduction of the new State Pension. Around 650,000 women reaching State Pension age in the first ten years will receive an average of £8 per week (in 2014/15 earnings terms) more due to the new State Pension valuation of their National Insurance record.Equalisation of the State Pension age was necessary under EU law to eliminate gender inequalities in welfare provision.

Department for Work and Pensions: Labour Turnover

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the level of staff turnover in his Department was in each of the last five years; and what steps he is taking to reduce such turnover.

Justin Tomlinson: Departmental turnover rates at the end of the last 5 financial years are summarised in the table below:Year EndAnnual Turnover (%)March 116.1March 125.2March 134.4March 145.2March 156.1Turnover is an important lever in enabling the Department to achieve the overall efficiencies required over the last and current parliaments whilst continuing to deliver and transform the services the Department provides. DWP’s turnover rate is assessed to be manageable and sustainable, and is consistent with current planning assumptions.

Pension Funds: Investment

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of (a) the extent to which UK pension funds are investing in fossil fuel and high carbon industries and (b) the potential effect of climate change on the stability of the UK pension sector; and if he will make a statement.

Justin Tomlinson: The Investment of UK pension funds is a matter for the trustees of the scheme. Trustees are required to take advice on investment from a suitably qualified person to ensure they are appropriate. Trustees make investments according to a statement of investment principles they prepare after taking advice. The statement will set out the extent to which the trustees take into account environmental considerations when making investments.

Pensions

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to ensure that all UK Pension schemes are aware of (a) the findings of the Law Commission's report on Fiduciary Duties of Investment Intermediaries, published in June 2014, HC 368, and (b) related guidance to be issued by the Pensions Regulator.

Justin Tomlinson: The Pensions Regulator has already taken steps to ensure that occupational pension schemes are aware of the findings of the Law Commission’s report on fiduciary duties.In October 2014 The Pensions Regulator emailed over 37,000 pension scheme trustees to make them aware of the Law Commission’s report, and the guidance produced by the Law Commission on pension trustees’ duties.The Pensions Regulator has also updated its ‘trustee toolkit’ training materials to reflect the Law Commission’s findings, and is updating its investment guidance with new material with reflects the Law Commission’s conclusions. This includes the revised Code of Practice and guidance for running defined contribution schemes, which is currently published for consultation.

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

Ian C. Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of benefit fraud that led to convictions were prosecuted in (a) Wales and (b) Wrexham in each of the last five years.

Justin Tomlinson: The table below represents the number of successful convictions in Wales since April 2012.YearNo of Convictions2012 – 201316162013 – 201415122014 – 2015992The data held for the number of convictions prior to 2012 is not available for publication.The information requested for Wrexham is not readily available. This is because the data is not collated in a format for Wrexham only. This information could only be provided by examining individual investigation files. This could only be conducted at disproportionate time and cost.

Carers: Occupational Pensions

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the number of personal assistants who provide care to people formerly in receipt of the Independent Living Fund who will be entitled to pension scheme auto-enrolment; and what guidance his Department has issued to employers of such employees on that matter.

Justin Tomlinson: All personal care assistants that meet the eligibility criteria for automatic enrolment will be automatically enrolled into a pension scheme by their employer. In order to be eligible, staff must be between 22 and State Pension age and must earn more than £10,000 per year (which is £192 per week). We are working with The Pensions Regulator to ensure that employers of personal care assistants are supported with their automatic enrolment duties. The Regulator has tailored its online Step by Step guide and offline communications specifically to employers of personal care assistants. Furthermore, the Regulator provides information that will help employers of personal care assistants to choose a pension scheme. Finally, the Regulator has a dedicated Industry Liaison team who engage with providers, employers, intermediaries, charities and user-led organisations to raise awareness and understanding of automatic enrolment.

Social Security Benefits: Disability

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people under the age of 25 are in receipt of disability benefits in (a) Burnley, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West.

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are currently in receipt of disability benefits in (a) Burnley, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West.

Justin Tomlinson: The available information for Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance, by age and a range of geographical breakdowns, is available using the Department’s Tabulation Tool: http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/.Similar information for Personal Independence Payment and Employment Support Allowance is available using Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore is available here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.

Social Security Benefits: Disability

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in receipt of disability benefits re-joined the workforce in (a) Burnley, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012, (iv) 2013, (v) 2014 and (vi) 2015.

Justin Tomlinson: The information requested is not available.

Employment Schemes

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to publish the White Paper on supporting people with health conditions and disabilities get into work.

Justin Tomlinson: As outlined in the Spending Review 2015, the government will publish a White Paper in 2016 that will set out reforms to improve support for people with health conditions and disabilities: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spending-review-and-autumn-statement-2015-documents/spending-review-and-autumn-statement-2015

Vacancies: Internet

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of vacancies in each region and nation of the UK which were advertised on Universal Jobmatch were advertised as paying the National Minimum Wage in the most recent month for which figures are available.

Priti Patel: As part of the terms and conditions which employers must agree to in order to be able to post their vacancies on Universal Jobsmatch, it states that employers must ‘provide a rate of pay equal to, or more than the National Minimum Wage, unless a lawful exemption applies.

Vacancies: Internet

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of vacancies advertised on Universal Jobmatch in the last three months which offered flexible working arrangements for lone parents.

Priti Patel: The information requested is not available.

Working Tax Credit

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who stopped claiming (a) jobseeker's allowance and (b) employment and support allowance in the most recent month for which figures are available subsequently made a new claim for working tax credits.

Priti Patel: The Information requested is not available.

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims for (a) jobseeker's allowance and (b) employment and support allowance were terminated as a result of a disallowance which followed a sanction in the most recent month for which figures are available.

Priti Patel: The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Winter Fuel Payments: Expenditure

Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much it cost his Department to send out winter fuel allowance payments in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015.

Justin Tomlinson: The information is not readily available and could only be provided at a disproportional cost.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Mr Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what transitional arrangements are in place for women affected by the planned increase in the retirement age for state pension recipients.

Justin Tomlinson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 November 2015 to Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North), Question UIN 15476

Department for Work and Pensions: Ministerial Policy Advisers

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on how many occasions a special adviser in his Department accompanied a Minister on an overseas trip since May 2015.

Justin Tomlinson: There have been 4 occasions since May 2015, where a DWP Special Adviser has accompanied a Minister on an overseas trip.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Families

Caroline Ansell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what training her Department has provided to staff on the family test; what other steps she has taken to raise awareness of the family test among staff of her Department; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice: Defra has a team leading on the Family Test who collaborate with the Department for Work and Pensions. The team work closely with staff across the Department to raise awareness, following the guidance on the family test issued by DWP.

Pesticides

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what research her Department has recently commissioned on the effects of pesticides on UK ecosystems.

George Eustice: Defra has funded a number of projects over recent years to develop its understanding of the effects of pesticides. This includes work to examine the fate and behaviour of pesticides in the environment, their effects on non-target organisms and measures to reduce adverse effects. A list of all Defra-commissioned Research and Development (R&D) projects is available from the Defra R&D website.

Government Property Unit

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which of her Department's properties will be owned and managed by the Government Property Unit; what the annual rent will be; and what the estimated annual cost is of the services the Government Property Unit will provide to her Department.

George Eustice: Defra is fully engaged with the development of the New Property Model for government property. The Property Model is being designed by the Government Property Unit and Departments are still to discuss the detail of the transfer of property into the new government property vehicle, the level of property cost recharges and any management cost involved.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Buildings

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the cost was of maintaining her Department's properties in (a) London and (b) nationally in 2014-15.

George Eustice: Defra is the controlling holder of 133 properties on behalf of the civil estate. These include offices, laboratories, farms, foot and mouth burial site and contaminated land.Increasingly space in these properties is shared with Executive Agencies and NDPBs within the Defra network, as well as other government departments, their Executive Agencies and NDPBs, and commercial tenants.Information regarding the Department’s Expenditure in relation to Estates Management can be found in the Annual Report and Accounts at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/449323/defra-annual-report-2014-2015-web.pdf

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what representations she has received from the professional zoo community in relation to the management of bovine TB in non-bovine farmed animals.

George Eustice: On 28 August 2015 Defra issued a call for views on TB controls for non-bovine species, including companion and zoo animals. The call for views closed on 20 November 2015 and responses including those from the professional zoo community are being considered. Any proposals for regulatory changes flowing from the exercise would be subject to consultation in the normal manner.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take to ensure that her Department's policy on the management of bovine TB in non-bovine farmed animals does not have a detrimental impact on species kept by zoos.

George Eustice: On 28 August 2015 Defra issued a call for views on TB controls for non-bovine species, including companion and zoo animals. The call for views closed on 20 November 2015 and responses including those from the professional zoo community are being considered. Any proposals for regulatory changes flowing from the exercise would be subject to consultation in the normal manner.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Fire Services: Hoaxes and False Alarms

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of using the facewatch application to reduce the number of fire engine call outs to false alarms.

Greg Clark: We have made no assessment of the effectiveness of using Facewatch to reduce call outs to false alarms. Decisions on operational matters, including how to reduce and respond to false alarms, are best taken at the local level by fire and rescue authorities and their principal officers in the light of individual circumstances.

Emergency Services: Terrorism

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many incident response units for the mass decontamination of members of the public there are in England which could be used in the event of a CBRNE attack; and how many such units are able to be deployed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Greg Clark: The Fire and Rescue Service provide a mass decontamination response capability on behalf of the Ambulance Service, which is deployable 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as part of the DCLG New Dimensions Programme.

First Time Buyers: North West

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many first-time house buyers there were in (a) Burnley, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West in each of the last six years.

Brandon Lewis: Statistics on the numbers of first-time house buyers are published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders and can be found at:https://www.cml.org.uk/home/

Housing: Disability

Ben Howlett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to help increase the number of disabled people who own their own home.

Brandon Lewis: The Government is committed to extending home ownership opportunities for everyone. Disabled people with aspirations to own their own home can benefit from a number of policies offered by this Government, like Help to Buy and Right to Buy. However, we do recognise that for some people with long-term disabilities, our mainstream home ownership programmes may not be suitable. The Home Ownership for those with Long-term Disabilities (HOLD) scheme is specifically designed to help people living with such disabilities to buy a property on the open market on shared ownership terms with a registered housing provider.The Government is also providing affordable housing for disabled and older people through the Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund, phase 1 of which will deliver around 4,000 new homes by 2018. Between 2011-15 the Affordable Homes Programme has also delivered almost 14,000 specialised and mainstream affordable homes for older and disabled people.In the Spending Review we have committed to £400 million of funding to deliver 8,000 specialist homes for the vulnerable elderly or those with disabilities. A commitment to funding from the Department of Health could deliver up to a further 7,500 homes over the Spending Review period.

Local Government: Sick Leave

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department issues to local authorities to help them reduce the levels of sickness absence among employees.

Mr Marcus Jones: The Department does not issue guidance to local authorities on managing sickness absence levels. Local authorities are independent employers and free to manage their workforces. However, the Government has recently announced that it intends to review sickness absence in public sector workforces. The gap in sickness absence levels between the public and private sectors is reported to have narrowed over the past 20 years but levels still remain higher in the public sector. The Government intends to consult on possible reforms and will consider legislation where necessary to reduce the impact of sickness absence on public service delivery.

Motor Vehicles: Fires

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many fires involving (a) any make of vehicle and (b) Vauxhall Zafiras  each fire brigade has responded to in each of the last five years.

Greg Clark: Holding answer received on 03 December 2015



Since 2009/10, detailed information on the causes of fires attended by fire and rescue services has been collected on the Incident Recording System.Figures for road vehicle fires – broken down for the last five years and by fire and rescue service - are available in Table 3b(iv) of the Department’s Fire Statistics Monitor statistical release, which can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fire-statistics-monitor-april-2014-to-march-2015The Incident Recording System shows a total of 224 fire incidents attended by fire and rescue services between 2010/11 and 2014/15 (the latest year for which data are available) in which the word ‘Zafira’ was included in the make and model free text box.The quality and extent of the make and model information provided by services is variable and its accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. Recorded incidents do not include judgments on whether the cause of the incident related to the vehicle (either its manufacture or maintenance), the driver, other circumstances or a combination of those factors. This information should not, therefore, be used in isolation to make judgments about the safety of particular vehicles.

Communities and Local Government: Labour Mobility

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many civil servants in his Department are in the redeployment pool.

Brandon Lewis: A redeployment pool is one of the steps DCLG would take if staff were at the risk of redundancy. DCLG is currently not in a redundancy situation, therefore, we do not have a redeployment pool or staff in it.

Change of Use

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many applications have been made to councils for planning permission for change of use of a shop to betting premises since April 2015; and how many such applications have been successful.

Brandon Lewis: The Department for Communities and Local Government does not hold this information.

Housing: Construction

Mr Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on New Home Bonuses for district and borough councils; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his estimate is of the amount of New Home Bonuses to be granted to (a) East Northants Council, (b) the Borough Council of Wellingborough, (c) Northamptonshire County Council and (d) England in each of the next 10 years.

Brandon Lewis: As part of the Spending Review, the Government committed to the continuation of the New Homes Bonus. We will consult on reforms to the New Homes Bonus, including means of sharpening the incentive to reward communities for additional homes. We will also explore reducing the length of payments from six years including an option for savings of at least £800 million to be returned to local government and used to fund vital services such as adult social care. Details of both reforms will be set out shortly. There are no plans to change the basis of allocations for 2016/17. The allocations for 2016/17 will be published alongside the provisional Local Government Settlement for that year.

Local Government Finance

Mr Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what changes are planned for local government funding over the next five years; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Marcus Jones: Plans for local government funding will be set out shortly, alongside the publication of the provisional local government finance settlement for 2016-17.

HM Treasury

Welfare Tax Credits

Mr Christopher Chope: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2015 to Question 15239, how much of the £3.6 billion of tax credits overpayments his Department has recovered in 2015 to date.

Damian Hinds: The most up to date information requested is available from the HM Revenue and Customs Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15. Available on page 28 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-annual-report-and-accounts-2014-to-2015

Social Security Benefits

Holly Lynch: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many government employees are in receipt of in-work benefits.

Greg Hands: The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Tax Avoidance

Julie Cooper: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the benefit to the public purse was of the closing of tax loopholes in each of the last six years.

Mr David Gauke: Revenue protected in connection with avoidance measures announced over the last 6 years is scored in relevant Budget documentation published by HM Treasury.However, for convenience on 19 March 2015 the coalition government published a document detailing the action taken over the course of the last Parliament to tackle tax evasion and avoidance. That document can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-tax-evasion-and-avoidance

Taxation

Ian C. Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what change there has been in the incidence of failure by employees to pay appropriate tax and National Insurance.

Mr David Gauke: The estimated proportion of small- and medium-sized enterprise employers failing to fully meet their obligations in respect of operating Pay As You Earn (PAYE) is published in ‘Measuring Tax Gaps; 2015 edition' (table 6.8, p.53).Comparable figures for large employers are not available, but an estimate of the tax gap for large employers can be found on table 6.9, also on p.53.https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-tax-gaps

Taxation

Ian C. Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of payments of (a) income tax and (b) National Insurance by employees (i) within and (ii) outside the UK were made correctly in each of the last three years.

Mr David Gauke: Estimates of the proportion of payments of (a) income tax and (b) National Insurance by employees (i) within and (ii) outside the UK that were correctly made are not available.Estimates of the value of under-declared income tax and national insurance liabilities resulting from incorrect returns are published in chapter 6 of ‘Measuring Tax Gaps 2015.’ These are produced for both small and medium enterprise (SME) employers (table 6.7) and large employers (table 6.9).https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-tax-gaps

VAT

Paul Flynn: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on the hypothecation of revenues raised from VAT on specific products for a specific purpose.

Mr David Gauke: The Government’s spending priorities are not, in general, determined by the way in which the money is raised. All revenue received, in combination with the amount borrowed or repaid by the Government, contributes to the amount that the Government can spend in total. However, we will continue to look at each case on its merits.

Annuities

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Financial Conduct Authority on the conclusion of its thematic review of the annuities market as to whether consumers are being treated fairly in the current financial climate.

Damian Hinds: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) places a duty on the firms that they regulate to treat their customers fairly, and the FCA have wide-ranging powers of enforcement in pursuit of this objective.The FCA’s Retirement Income Market Study, which followed on from the work of the Thematic Review of Annuities and was published in March 2015, recommended greater use of annuity comparisons to encourage greater shopping around by consumers. The FCA are currently conducting behavioural tests on options for presenting these comparisons in the most effective way, and expect to report on these findings and any proposed rule changes in 2016. In addition, the FCA’s Retirement Outcomes Review, which will be published early next year, will assess issues from the Thematic Review - including the issue of eligible consumers not purchasing enhanced annuity products.The FCA also plan to consider consumers’ wider information needs in light of market developments following the pension freedoms.

Revenue and Customs: Liverpool

Mrs Louise Ellman: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of his plans for HM Revenue and Customs offices in Liverpool on jobs and services in that area; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced the planned locations of its future Regional Centres based on a number of key principles. In addition to cost, HMRC has taken account of the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, and the need to retain the staff and skills they need to continue their transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025. HMRC intends to have extensive discussions with all our staff to keep them fully informed of their options as the programme continues.HMRC views Liverpool as a key site for customer service activity. The Department will be making a long term investment in the City and is planning to open a Regional Centre there from 2018/19 employing between 2,800 and 3,100 employees.

Enterprise Zones

Peter Kyle: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the 26 new Enterprise Zones are which were announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

Greg Hands: The full list of successful Enterprise Zones, which is available to view online at the link below, was published by DCLG following the Spending Review announcement:www.gov.uk/government/news/the-new-enterprise-zones

Department for Energy and Climate Change

Business: Environment Protection

Mr Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the inclusion of renewable energy in the Climate Change Levy on incentives for businesses to operate in a more environmentally friendly way.

Andrea Leadsom: The Climate Change Levy (CCL) renewables exemption offered poor value for money, as it provided indirect support to renewable generators, and a third of its value went to supporting overseas renewable generation projects, which did not contribute to the UK’s climate change or renewables targets and often received subsidies from home Governments. The rise in UK renewable electricity generation and imports led to a decline in CCL revenue. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility published forecasts showing that this decline would have continued to 2020 if the exemption remained in place and that virtually no CCL tax would have been paid on electricity by 2020, which would have undermined the energy efficiency objectives of the CCL.

Climate Change Convention: Paris

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what representations she has received from the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate on the Paris Climate Conference; and whether she has evaluated that Commission's list of 10 opportunities for economically beneficial climate action.

Andrea Leadsom: My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State is aware of the work from the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, as the UK is one of its commissioning countries. The Secretary of State welcomed the Global Commission’s reports, which underlined that growth and tackling climate change can go hand in hand.We continue to reflect on the reports’ findings and contribution to the economic debate. It sets out how Governments of countries at different stages of economic development can achieve strong economic performance, improve standards of living, create jobs and reduce poverty, whilst simultaneously helping to reduce the risks of climate change. The reports’ evidence on the potential economic opportunities is a powerful contribution to the clear case for action. It is in this spirit that we strongly recommend all countries to consider its findings.

Energy: Industry

Margaret Ferrier: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to paragraph 1.203 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, when the energy intensive industry exemption from the cost of Renewable Obligation and Feed-in Tariff will come into effect.

Andrea Leadsom: Following consultation, state aid clearance and necessary amendments to Renewables Obligation and Feed in Tariff scheme legislation, we intend to switch from compensation to exemptions as soon as possible.

Coal

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the UK's coal resources are used in the most effective manner.

Andrea Leadsom: The UK’s coal mining sector continues to meet a significant proportion of UK demand - in 2014, this was around 20%. In recent years, a number of domestic mining companies have struggled to remain profitable as a result of changes in the global coal market, and the Government has provided substantial financial support to avert the insolvent and unmanaged closure of these mines.The Government continues to engage regularly with the coal sector to discuss the role of coal as we transition to a low carbon economy.My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced recently that we will look to limit our use of coal from 2023, with an end date of 2025 and we will consult on this in the New Year. However, security of supply remains non-negotiable and no decisions will be taken which puts this at risk.

*No heading*

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate her Department has made of the average per kwh cost of energy in each of the next five years; and if she will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom: Holding answer received on 03 December 2015



Energy price assumptions underpinning DECC’s 2015 Energy and Emissions Projections are available in Annex M of the supporting documentation available online.1 The table includes wholesale coal, crude oil, electricity, and natural gas price assumptions, and retail electricity, natural gas, and petroleum product price assumptions for a range of sectors. Assumptions are available out to 2035, and for a range of scenarios.The Government is implementing a package of measures to reduce the projected cost of policies on the average household dual fuel bill by £30 from 2017. The bulk of these savings will come from reforms to the current Energy Company Obligation, which will be replaced by a new cheaper supplier obligation from April 2017. The new scheme will deliver on the government’s commitment to help 1 million homes see lower energy bills through energy efficiency improvements by the end of this parliament. The government is committed to ensuring that energy is affordable for families and businesses.[1] Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/updated-energy-and-emissions-projections-2015.

Climate Change Convention: Paris

Mr Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what discussions she has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the Paris climate change conference.

Andrea Leadsom: My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has been engaging with her counterpart in Northern Ireland to discuss the UK’s objectives for COP21; and is intending to meet with the Minister of Environment for Northern Ireland in Paris.

Renewable Energy: Employment

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the effect on UK employment of (a) the early closure of renewables obligation and (b) the zero allocation into pot one of the contract for difference auction in 2016; and if she will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom: The impact assessments for closing the renewables obligation early to 5MW-and-below solar and to onshore wind both included reference to the possible effect of these changes on employment. There will continue to be employment opportunities in relation to projects that qualify for grace periods, as well as in ongoing maintenance and management of existing sites; some jobs may also be redeployed to other sectors.We are in the process of considering the concept of a market stabilising CFD for certain technologies – something which has been suggested by a number of stakeholders. We are listening to ideas from industry about how this can be achieved and how we can best ensure a level playing field between renewable and other generation technologies. We would welcome continued input from stakeholders.

Cabinet Office

Electronic Warfare: Finance

Maria Eagle: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to paragraph 4.105 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, how much of the £1.9 billion investment in cyber defence he plans to spend in each year until 2020.

Matthew Hancock: As announced in the Chancellor's speech of 17 November, a new National Cyber Security Strategy will be launched in 2016, implemented through a new National Cyber Security Programme. The new programme will determine how much of the £1.9 billion investment is spent each financial year to March 2021.

Electronic Warfare

Maria Eagle: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his plans are for the 2015-2020 National Cyber Security Programme; and if he will make a statement.

Matthew Hancock: A new 5 year National Cyber Security Programme will commence in April 2016. Details of the programme will be published next year.

Electronic Warfare

Maria Eagle: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the cost of establishing a National Cyber Security Centre.

Matthew Hancock: As announced in the Chancellor's speech of 17 November, a National Cyber Centre will be launched in 2016. Work is underway to determine the exact costs, as part of the £1.9bn budget for cyber security announce in the Spending Review.

Electronic Warfare

Maria Eagle: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what cyber capabilities he plans to be based at the National Cyber Centre.

Matthew Hancock: As announced in the Chancellor's speech of 17 November, a National Cyber Centre will be launched in 2016. The new National Cyber Security programme will determine which cyber capabilities will be incorporated in the National Cyber Centre.

Cabinet Office: Senior Civil Servants

Louise Haigh: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2015 to Question 17505, when he will publish the September half-yearly update on the job titles and pay grades of senior civil servants within his Department.

Matthew Hancock: The government publishes information on the job titles and pay grades of senior civil servants along with the numbers of staff they manage on a twice yearly basis.The Cabinet Office expects to publish an updated organogram at https://data.gov.uk/organogram/cabinet-officein due course.

Civil Servants: Pay

Louise Haigh: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to update information online on civil servants earning an annual salary of over £150,000.

Matthew Hancock: As part of its transparency agenda, the Government is committed to publishing an annual list of senior officials in departments, agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies with pay rates of £150,000 and above. The 2015 list will be published on the Cabinet Office website shortly.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Broadband: Northern Ireland

Ms Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the report published by Ofcom on 1 December 2015 into broadband speeds in Northern Ireland.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Ofcom’s Connected Nations 2015 report shows that average download broadband speeds in Northern Ireland have improved over the last year. Work is underway to further improve broadband availability and speeds, and the impact of two additional schemes will be measured in due course.Meanwhile, this Government is working closely with Ofcom to implement the broadband Universal Service Obligation by 2020, as recently announced by the Prime Minister. This will give people a legal right to request a broadband connection no matter where they live. A consultation will be launched early next year.

Department of Health

Skin Cancer

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many cases of advanced melanoma there have been in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison: Staging is the term used to describe the size of the cancer tumour and how far the disease has spread. Stage 1 and 2 relate to cancers that are isolated to the organ in which they started; stage 3 and 4 refer to cancers where the disease has spread to lymph nodes or other organs within the body. This is considered advanced melanoma.The number of cases of melanoma diagnosed by stage in 2013 is shown in the table below, 931 cases of were diagnosed as advanced, 8.8% of all melanoma diagnosis.Stage of melanoma at diagnosis in England (2013)1234unknownTotalNumber of cases7,5972,0386233081,77312,339Proportion71.9%19.3%5.9%2.9%Data is only available for year 2013. The staging of cancer tumours in other years is not available, due to data coding and data quality issues.

Skin Cancer

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve outcomes for patients with advanced melanoma.

Jane Ellison: The independent Cancer Taskforce’s new five-year strategy for cancer recommends improvements across the pathway, with the aim of improving survival rates, including for patients with advanced melanoma. NHS England is currently working with partners across the health system to determine how best to take forward the recommendations in the strategy, and has appointed Cally Palmer as NHS National Cancer Director to lead on managing its implementation.In July 2015, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published guidelines on the assessment and management of melanoma. Further information is available at:www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng14In addition, NICE is currently developing a quality standard which will cover prevention, assessment, diagnosis and management of skin cancer (non-melanoma and malignant melanoma) in children, young people and adults. The anticipated publication date for this quality standard is August 2016.NICE has also recommended a number of drugs for the treatment of melanoma, including: ipilimumab, vemurafenib and pembrolizumab, and is currently in the process of appraising others. More information is available on NICE’s website at:www.nice.org.uk/guidance/conditions-and-diseases/cancer/skin-cancer

Arthritis

Sir David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of implementation of the NICE quality standards for rheumatoid arthritis.

Sir David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the medicines optimisation programme's principle of ensuring that the right patient gets the right choice of medicine, at the right time, is applied to people with inflammatory arthritis.

Jane Ellison: Quality standards (QS) are important in setting out to patients, the public, commissioners and providers what a high quality service should look like in a particular area of care. Whilst providers and commissioners must have regard to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) QS in planning and delivering services, however they are not mandatory.The QS for rheumatoid arthritis states that services should be commissioned from and coordinated across all relevant agencies encompassing the rheumatoid arthritis care pathway. A person-centred approach to provision of services is fundamental to delivering high-quality care to adults with rheumatoid arthritis. NHS England continues to champion their use with providers and commissioners.NHS England is working with patients, the pharmaceutical industry, royal colleges and others to encourage a range of improvements aimed at ensuring that all patients, including those with inflammatory arthritis, get the support they need to get the most from their medicines. The development of the four principles to support medicines optimisation offers a step change to the way we think about medicine use in the NHS. The four guiding patient-centred principles: aim to understand the patient’s experience; evidence-based choice of medicines; make medicines optimisation part of routine practice; ensure medicines use is as safe as possible are applicable to all patients, conditions and disease states.The medicines optimisation best practice guidance, published in May 2014 is available at:www.rpharms.com/promoting-pharmacy-pdfs/helping-patients-make-the-most-of-their-medicines.pdf.

NHS: Private Sector

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans NHS England has to use capacity in independent sector hospitals to reduce waiting lists in 2015-16.

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) surgical operations, (b) diagnostic tests and (c) endoscopy procedures which could be used to treat NHS patients and are available from independent sector healthcare providers in winter 2015-16.

Jane Ellison: Decisions about whether to use independent sector capacity are made at local level according to local need, as part of the operational management of capacity and demand.

Prisons: Drugs

Sir David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will include take-home naloxone in the harm reduction strategy for the penal service; and if he will make a statement.

Sir David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to encourage the provision of take-home naloxone for at risk prisoners by health and justice lead area teams; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: The substance misuse element of the harm reduction strategy will align with national clinical guidance with regard to how naloxone and other medicines in the care pathway are considered for use, although specific medicines are unlikely to be named in the strategy.The commissioning of substance misuse treatment for prisoners is the responsibility of health and justice commissioning teams in ten of NHS England’s area teams, supported by a central health and justice team. The Government expects commissioners and providers of substance misuse services in prisons and in the community to work together closely in respect to prisoners being released from custody to ensure seamless transfers of care.Public Health England, the Department and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency have jointly published a factsheet[1] to explain October’s regulatory change with regard to naloxone and how the wider availability of naloxone affects relevant services. NHS England Area Teams will encourage providers to take account of this guidance.  [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/widening-the-availability-of-naloxone/widening-the-availability-of-naloxone

Health: Children

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on the future of the mandated universal elements of the Healthy Child Programme for children aged 0 to five.

Jane Ellison: The commissioning of 0 to 5 years public health services transferred from NHS England to local authorities on 1 October 2015. Prior to transfer, Regulations were made to mandate the delivery of five universal health visitor reviews as set out in the Healthy Child Programme. The Regulations have a sunset clause that ends their effect on 31 March 2017, 18 months after coming into operation.The Regulations make provision for a review, by the Secretary of State, of the operation of the mandated elements. This will help inform future arrangements.In the interim, the Department is working with Public Health England, (as the strategic and professional lead for health visitor services), to monitor progress of the new arrangements.

Alcoholic Drinks: Consumption

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects to publish the results of the Government's review of alcohol consumption.

Jane Ellison: The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) is overseeing a United Kingdom-wide review of lower-risk alcohol guidelines so that people can make informed choices about their drinking at all stages of their lives.The Guidelines Development Group, a group of independent experts, was tasked with developing the lower-risk drinking guidelines for the UK CMOs to consider. The group have researched and developed a proposal on the guidelines, including a UK wide approach for guidance on alcohol and pregnancy. We will be consulting on these shortly.

Health Services: Children

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children in (a) England, (b) the North East and (c) Sunderland required 24-hour care due to life-limiting or life-threatening conditions in 2014-15.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support is offered to families with children suffering from life-limiting or life-threatening conditions in England.

Jane Ellison: Information is not held centrally on how many children in England required 24-hour care due to life-limiting or life-threatening conditions in 2014-15. The local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) do not collect information for the North East and Sunderland.CCGs (and in the case of specialised services, NHS England), will commission a range of care to support children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions, including paediatric care, and community-based nursing. A child with a life-limiting condition may be eligible for a package of continuing care, where their needs are such that they require clinical care in addition to that routinely commissioned. This might include one-to-one support. NHS England also allocates an annual grant of £11 million to children’s hospices to support their provision of palliative and respite care.Children and young people with complex needs may also be eligible for local authority-commissioned social care to support living, short-breaks, and special educational support, where they have a special educational need.

Obesity: Children

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to tackle obesity in children under 11.

Jane Ellison: Tackling obesity, particularly in children, is one of our major priorities. Progress has been made in recent years, but we know we have much further to go. We will announce our plans for tackling childhood obesity in the new year.In the meantime we are continuing to invest in the Change4Life campaign, which provides motivation and support for families to make small but significant improvements to their diets and activity levels. Industry has also taken a range of actions including removing billions of calories and tons of sugar from products and portion sizes have been reduced, but the challenge to industry to make further substantial progress remains.

Hepatitis

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were diagnosed with hepatitis C in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison: Public Health England only receives laboratory reports of hepatitis C cases from England and Wales.Laboratory reports of hepatitis C, England and Wales, 2010 to 2014Year2010 (i)2011 (ii)2012 (iii)2013 (iv)2014 (v)Total8,1471,038211,35311,69211,997 Across the United Kingdom, more individuals are being tested for hepatitis C and over the last five years particular improvements have been seen in primary care where surveillance indicates that testing has risen by 21% in England (vi). Citations(i) Health Protection Report Vol 5. No. 29 22 July 2011(ii) Health Protection Report Vol 6. No. 30 27 July 2012(iii) Health Protection Report Vol.7 No. 30 26 July 2013(iv) Health Protection Report Vol 98 No. 29 25 July 2014(v) Health Protection Report Vol 9 No. 26 24 July 2015(vi) Hepatitis C in the UK; 2015 report. Public Health England

Mental Health Services: Children

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of provision of mental health services for children who have been abused.

Alistair Burt: This Government is committed to delivering the vision set out in Future in mind and is driving forward the transformation of children and young people’s mental health services.This transformation programme, backed by additional investment of £1.4 billion allocated over the next five years, will deliver a step change in the way children and young people’s mental health services are commissioned and delivered.All clinical commissioning groups, working closely with their partners, were asked to develop and submit Local Transformation Plans (LTPs) to transform their local offer for children and young people’s mental health. Plans must cover the whole spectrum of services from prevention to intervention for emerging or existing mental health problems and address the full spectrum of need, including children who have been abused and/or exploited. LTPs should also demonstrate that services have been designed with children and young people and their families, and meet the needs of their local population of children.LTPs, covering all local areas, were submitted in October 2015 and are currently being assured by NHS England’s regional teams.

Prostate Cancer

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what change there has been in prostate cancer detection rates since publication of the Report of the Prostate Cancer Audit in November 2014.

Jane Ellison: The information requested is not held, as the most recent registration data available are for 2013.

Mental Health Services: Children

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of children who receive mental health assessments on entering care; and what assessment he has made of recent trends in such figures.

Alistair Burt: Data is not collected nationally on the number of children entering care who receive a mental health assessment.Local authorities are responsible for making sure that a health assessment is carried out for every child they look after when they start to be looked after. The care planning regulations specify that this should include an assessment of the child’s emotional and mental wellbeing. The Department for Education annually collects data from local authorities on the numbers of children continuously looked after for at least 12 months at 31 March who received their statutory annual health assessment during the year. At 31 March 2014, 88.4% of these looked-after children did so.

Psychiatry

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2015 to Question 17516, how many of the 756 training places were occupied by existing NHS psychological therapists.

Alistair Burt: Health Education England does not collect data on how many training places were filled by existing National Health Service psychological therapists.

Suicide

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many and what proportion of local authorities have a suicide prevention strategy.

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many and what proportion of local authorities have a suicide prevention group.

Alistair Burt: The information requested is not collected centrally.However, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention published an Inquiry into Local Suicide Prevention Plans in England (January 2015). The Inquiry included a survey of local authorities by the APPG, which indicated that 70% of local authorities have a suicide prevention plan and 60% have a multi-agency suicide prevention group.

NHS: Working Hours

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to ensure that weekday services to the NHS are not compromised as a result of a seven day service.

Ben Gummer: It is for local providers and commissioners to develop plans for delivering more seven day services in hospitals, whilst maintaining standards of care on weekdays. The Care Quality Commission will continue to monitor, inspect and regulate hospitals to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety on all seven days of the week.

Hospitals: Consultants

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many consultants have opted out of routine weekend working through the schedule 3 paragraph 6 of the NHS consultant contract in the last year.

Ben Gummer: This information is not held centrally.Schedule 3 Paragraph 6 of the 2003 NHS consultant contract allows consultants to refuse non-emergency work after 7pm and before 7am during weekdays and weekends. The definitions section clarifies that this also applies to emergency work for those consultants whose specialty by its nature involves dealing routinely with emergency cases, e.g. accident and emergency consultants.NHS trusts hold information on consultant working patterns. However, this information would not reveal how many individuals have relied on the clause to not participate in weekend work as part of their contract, or to work them at expensive locally negotiated rates.In its 2013 report ‘Managing NHS hospital Consultants’ the National Audit Office (NAO) reported that 91% of trusts who responded to its survey paid for additional work using locally agreed rates, with rates of up £200 per hour reported. The NAO expressed the view that “This is likely to be linked to the fact that the contract allows consultants to refuse to work outside 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday.”A subsequent report by the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts concluded that as a result of the opt out, hospitals struggle to provide the appropriate level of consultant-led care for patients.

NHS: Working Hours

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress his Department has made in achieving seven day services in the NHS which provides the same consultant assessment, diagnostic tests and consultant led interventions for patients seven days a week for (a) 50 per cent of the population by 2018 and (b) 100 per cent of the population by 2020.

Ben Gummer: The Government has set out that hospitals will achieve more seven day services by delivering four priority clinical standards developed by the NHS Services, Seven Days a Week Forum. NHS England will work with the National Health Service and NHS Improvement to support the NHS to meet the four clinical standards and realise the benefits of seven day services for patients.

NHS: Working Hours

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to ensure that emergency care is prioritised following the implementation of seven day services in the NHS.

Ben Gummer: More seven day services in hospital will be achieved through the delivery of four clinical standards that describe the urgent and emergency care patients should expect to receive seven days a week.

NHS: Working Hours

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what extra funding will be made available to deliver seven day services in the NHS; and when such funding will be made available.

Ben Gummer: The Spending Review provided the National Health Service in England £10 billion per annum additional funding in real terms by 2020-21 compared to 2014-15, with £3.8 billion real terms growth in 2016-17. This fully funds the NHS’s own Five Year Forward View and will enable it to deliver services seven days a week by 2020. Local NHS organisations will need to plan how they can most effectively and efficiently deliver seven day services within the overall funding available to them. Further details will be set out in the coming weeks as the mandate to NHS England is published, followed by funding allocations to clinical commissioning groups, the publication of planning guidance for the NHS and consultation on tariff prices for providers of NHS services.

Better Care Fund

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Better Care Fund in reducing delayed discharges from hospitals.

Alistair Burt: The Better Care Fund (BCF) aims to incentivise the National Health Service and local government to work more closely together at a local level to provide a joined up health and care service for their local population. Integrating health and social care will take time. Delayed transfers of care per 100,000 (DTOC) is included as a metric for the BCF as it is one of a number of ways to measure the effectiveness of joint working among local partners.The results for Q4 2014-15 and Q1 2015-16 data collections can be found on the NHS England website at:https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/part-rel/transformation-fund/bcf-plan/The latest data was published on 26 November 2015.

Care Homes: Closures

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of care homes which have closed in the last two years.

Alistair Burt: We are informed by the Care Quality Commission that between 31 March 2013 and 31 March 2015, the number of registered residential care and nursing homes reduced by 425. The total number of registered residential care and nursing home places increased by 1,437 over the same period.

Prisons: Gambling

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of prisoners seen by healthcare services on reception were referred to addiction services to help address problem gambling in each year since 2010.

Ben Gummer: This information is not held centrally.

Women and Equalities

Government Equalities Office: Research

Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how much of the Government Equalities Office's funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.

Caroline Dinenage: The Spending Review set out settlements for departments and showed how the government will deliver on its priorities, eliminate the deficit, and deliver security and opportunity for working people.Final decisions on internal departmental funding allocations for future years, including for research and development, have not yet been made.